hey

Meanings

1. 1
   intj

   An informal way of saying hello.

   Hey! How's it going?

2. 2
   intj

   Said to get someone's attention.

   Hey, look at this!

3. 3
   intj

   Said to show surprise.

   Hey, this is new!

4. 4
   intj

   Said to protest or tell someone off.

   Hey! Stop that!

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa (interjection), attested as first element in hēlā, ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”). Cognate with Dutch hé, hei (“hi, hey”), German hei (“hey, wow”), Danish and Swedish hej (“hello, hey”), Faroese hey (“hey, hello”), Old Norse, Icelandic and Norwegian hei (“hey”), Polish hej (“hey, hello”), Romanian hei, Russian эй (ej, “hey”); see heigh. Probably a natural expression, as may be inferred from its presence with similar meaning in many other unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး (he:), Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Ma…

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